A number of new companies have emerged in recent years offering fresh takes on RVs, like Lightship, Pebble, and Grounded. Now another startup called Evotrex is coming out of stealth with its own twist: a hybrid RV travel trailer with an integrated gas engine.
The new RV will have an onboard battery pack to power the living quarters and onboard electronics. The gas engine will recharge that battery pack and extend its range for far longer than a full charge, potentially making Evotrex’s trailer attractive for longer camping trips.
The Evotrex RV will debut at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show, but the company detailed some of its plans ahead of that reveal in an exclusive interview. Using a gas engine to get more from a big battery pack has become a trendy idea in the automotive world, as carmakers and customers hesitate to transition to fully-electric vehicles. In fact, the CEO of startup automaker Scout Motors recently revealed that eighty percent of customers who preordered its upcoming vehicles have chosen the hybrid extended range powertrain option over the all-electric ones.
Evotrex co-founder Alex Xiao, a former product manager for the consumer electronics company Anker, believes the idea will appeal to RV customers and dealers alike. Xiao said that he and co-founder Stella Qin, another Anker alum, spent seven months researching the RV market before they started building anything. They found a customer base that was getting much younger and had the desire to take these kinds of vehicles further out in the world, far beyond the typical plug-and-stay campsites and RV parks.
These customers want to bring their gadgets and other equipment on skiing, hunting, fishing, and other activities, and stay in the wild for four or five days, which is different. They are off-grid, and off-grid living was not supported before within the RV life.
To do all that, you need power. RV owners are no strangers to gas generators, but Xiao and Qin believe the way they have integrated their engine into the Evotrex trailer offers a number of benefits. They claim it is quieter and more efficient, and they say they are even using the excess heat created to help keep the cabin warm.
Xiao said Evotrex plans to ship the first of its RV trailers by the end of 2026, and it has raised sixteen million dollars in seed funding so far from his former employer Anker, as well as Chinese early-stage venture firms Unity Ventures, Kylinhall Partners, and Vision Plus Capital.
Evotrex has about forty employees so far, with some in China and some in the U.S. The company’s Chief Technology Officer formerly led automotive research and development at Chinese automaker Geely Group, and the startup’s Chief Operating Officer, a third co-founder, has held supply chain leadership positions at IBM, Lenovo, and Anker.
Xiao said the plan is to do most of the production in China with final assembly in California. Combined with the fact that much of the supply chain for RVs remains in China, he said he is aware that there will be challenges due to the Trump administration’s trade policies.
Solving those problems will not be easy, Xiao said. But neither is making a successful RV company from scratch, he added. The purpose of this company is to bring those kinds of new experiences to the customer.